Internal-combustion engine.



W. J. HARKIN.

Patented Aug. 24, 1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET I WITNESSES: j INVENTOR. of I Mfl/ M79000 zg v N H a A TTORNEY.

W. J. HARKIN. INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

I APPLICATION FILED lULY I3, 1912- 4 1,151,178. Patented Aug. 24, 1915 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' WITNESSES.-

v INVENTOR. h/W/Z MM/77 v By I A TTORNEY.

oLuMmA PLANOGRAPH c0. WASHINGTON. n

W. J. HARKIN. INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 13. I912.

Patented Aug. 24, 1915. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

11v VENTOR. MJ/e/ L/ H0017};

WITNESSES.-

ATTORNEY.

ANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON, n. c.

WALTER. 1., HARKIN, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Specification of Letters 1Eatent. Pafiggnted Aug, 24,- 1915,

Application filed. July -13, 1912. Serial No. 709,241.

T 0 aZZavhom it may concern Be it known that I, WALTER J. HARKIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Seattle, in the county of King and State of lVa shington, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Internal-Combus tion Engines, of which the following is a specification. 7

My invention relates to improvements in engines of the internal-combustion type, and the object of my improvement is to provide an internal-combustion engine that shall be adapted, first, for its operation, to utilize the inherent energy of any one of many kinds of combustible fluids, as for instance, gasolene, kerosene, coal gas, alcohol and the like; second, directly to rotate its main shaft in either direction, as may be desired, and to have the direction of such rotation changed at will, third, to cause its pistons with each revolution of its main shaft to transmit power to such shaft, and fourth, to operate.

of construction and reliable in its operation.

1 attain these objects by devices illus trated or indicated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a view in si l'e elevation shoW- ing some parts thereof in vertical-midsection, Fig. 2 is a view on a largerscale of'a part of my invention in similar verticalmid-section as shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a view in vertical-sectiomof like parts of my invention shown in Fig. 2, but on aline at a right angle to the section line of such Fig. 2 whereby may be seen certainparts in different relative positions, Fig. 41 is a view in horizontal section on broken line xm of Fig. 2 of one part of the structure shown in said Fig. 2 and Fig. 5 is a view in horizontal section on broken line ,1g of Fig. 2, of the same part illustrated in Fig. 4.

Like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 illustrates my invention as embodied in a two cylinder internal-combustion engine wherein a bed-plate 8 serves to support the bearings 9, within which a crank-shaft 10 ismounted to revolve and further serves to support the four columns 11 which are indicated by a fragmentary view, their upper portion being broken away. These four columns 11 are for supporting on their upper ends the two the upper end of said cylinder 13.

cylinders, -12 and 13 respectively, together- With the compression chamber 14, which is associated with the cylinder 12, and the compression chamber 15 which is associated with the cylinder 13; but I have not. shown the obvious manner in which such cylinders and compression chambers may be secured to the tops of the columns 11.

Each of the cylinders 12 and 13 and the compression chambers 14 and 15 are provided, within their walls, with water jacket spaces 16 after a plan well known. The compression chamber 14 and the compression chamber 15. are each bored vertically throughout their length to form a cylindrical space 17'. l/Vithin the space 17 of the compression chamber 14 is disposed to move reciprocally up and down a piston rod '18 upon the upper end of which is secureda piston 19 and at a suitable distance beneath such piston 19, is. secured, on the same piston rod 18, anotherpiston 20 of much greater length, as shown, and likewise within the space '17 of the compression chamber 15,- is disposed a like piston rod 21 upon whichis mounted a short piston 22 and a longer pis ton 23; all the pistons of both compression chambers let and 15 being provided with suitable packing rings of well known type as indicated in Fig. 1.

The upper ends of the cylinders 12 and are provided with cylinder heads 24: each of which has a water jacket space'16 which by suitable passages not shown may communicate with the water jacket spaces 16 within'the Walls of itsrespective cylinder whereby a constant circulation of water for coolwell known.

At; the upper end of the cylinder 12 and extending through the walls thereof and thence through the walls of the compression chamber 14 and into the space 17, of the chamber '14, is a passage or port 25, and likewise a similar passage or port 26 extends 'between the space 17 of the compression cham ber 15 and the boring of the cylinder 13 at These ports and 26, respectively, serve to admit an explosive mixture from the spaces 17 into theirrespective cylinders 12 and 13, and also permit the escape or exhaust, at the proper time, of the products of combustion fromthe cylinders 12 and 13 through the upper open ends of the cylindrical spaces 17. Within .theboring of the-cylinder 12 is i-ngpurposes may be attained in a manner disposed a piston 27 provided with suitable packing rings of well known type and such piston 27 is fixed upon a vertical piston rod 28 which extends downwardly through the bottom end of said cylinder 12 to connect g in a well known manner with a connecting rod 29 which is articulated with the crankshaft ,10 in an obvious well known manner indicated in Fig. 1 while within the boring of the cylinder 13 is a like piston 30 fixed on a piston rod 31 which in like manner is articulated with a connecting rod 32 that is associated also with the crank-shaft 10, but

the association of the crankshaft 10 with the connecting rods 29 and 32 is such that when the piston 27, in the operation of the engine, is uppermost in its reciprocalmovement then the piston 30 will be lowermost Y of link-motion, not shown, such link-motion being interposed between the lower ends of the fragmentary portions of the piston rods '18 and 21 and the upper ends of the frag-' mentary portions of the connecting rods 35 and 36, and 37 and 38 which pairs of connecting rods, respectively, connect with eccentrics 33 and 34. Thus in a well known way the relative positions of the pistons on piston rods 18 and 21 and the pistons 27 and 30 may be changed or reversed in a manner well known.

Disposed in the bottom of the cylinder 12, near the wall thereof, is an inlet puppetvalve 39 adapted normally to be maintained in a closed position by force of a spiralspring .40 which surrounds its stem in a well known way and beneath the disk of the valve 39 is a pocket 41 into which outside air may freely pass through an opening indicated by a circle made by a dotted line,

thus if the piston 27 be raised from the bottom of the cylinder 12, thereby causing a' tendency to form a vacuum beneath said piston 27, then atmospheric pressure will raise the puppet-valve 39 and outside air will rush into and through the pocket 41 into-the cylinder 12.

r A- like inlet puppet-valve 42 provided with a like spiral-spring 43 is disposedin a like manner in the bottom of the cylinder 13 whichflis. provided with a like pocket 44,

which puppet-valve 42 is adapted to act in H the same manner and for the same purpose as does the puppet-valve 39.

" In the bottom of the cylinders 12 and 13, disposed respectively on the side opposite the inlet puppet-valves 39 and 42, are outlet puppet-valves 45 and 46 of well known form which are normally maintained in a' closed position by the spiral-springs 47 and vided with an opening in one offits'sides which communlcates with a plpe 49. Be-

neath each of the pockets 50 and 51 is a subpocket 52 and a sub-pocket 53 respectively into each of which extends the respective one of the valve stems of the outlet puppet r V valves 45 and 46, and the holes 54 and'55 I in the partitions between said pockets50 and 51 and the sub-pockets 52iand 53 respectively insure an equal pressure in both of the sub-pockets 52 and 53 and both of the pockets 50 and 51 whereby-there can be no tendency of air to leak between the valve stems and walls of their sockets. Thus a downward movement of the piston 27 may serve to close the inlet puppet-valve 39 and to force the air contents of the cylinder'12 into the pipe 49 by opening the valve 45 while a like downward movement of the piston '30 would serve to close the inlet puppetvalve and to force the air contents of the cylinder 13 into the pipe 49 by opening the i 1 outlet puppet-valve 46, thus the reciprocal movements of the pistons 27 and 30 may pump air into the pipe 49.

Extending upwardly from the central portion of the pipe 49 and connected-therewith is a vertical pipe 56 leading to and connecting with a cross pipe 57. One end of this cross pipe 57 is connected with and leadsinto an opening 58in the'wall of the.

compression chamber 14'while the other end ofsaid cross pipe 57 is connected like wlse through an openlng 59 lnto the com- Thus when the top pression chamber 15.

ofthe piston23 islower than the opening 59 compressed air or gases from the pipe 50 may find passageway intothecylindrical and when such spaceis filled at such pressure anupward movement of pistons 23and 22 will close the opening 59 and, suchmovement continuing, suchcompressed gas or air will be carried upward until the lowerside of the piston 22 reaches or passes the lower edge of the port 26 of the cylinder. 13 whereupon thecompressed gas orair carried'within'the space between the pistons 22 and 23 mav find passage and force its way into the.

Obviously a like operation cylinder 13.

maybeeffected by the pistons 19 and 20 actingi-n conjunction with'the openings 58 and 25. 7

When the piston 30 in the cylinder13 7 reaches a desired point in the lower part'of the cylinder 13 the piston 22 may betimed 'above the piston 30, outwardly through the port 26 thence upwardly out of the open top of the cylindrical space 17, and likewise the co-action of the pistons 27, 19 and 20, the eccentrics 33 and the linkunotion, not shown, will serve to effect a like operation.

In Fig. 1 I have not shown means for supplying an engine with combustible fluids or means for igniting such fluids but such means are illustrated in Fig. 2 wherein is shown by an enlarged but similar View in vertical mid-section a compression chamber similar to the compression chamber 14 of Fig. 1. V

Referring to Fig. 2 a spark-plug 60 is disposed in the wall of the cylinder 14 in a positionwithin a hole extending .through such wall whereby an explosive mixture within the space 17 may be exposed to the action of an electric spark passing between the electrodes of suchspark-plug 60. I have shown the vertical position of said sparkplug 60 as being such that upon the upward movement of the pistons 19. and 20 an explosive mixture that maybe contained in the space betweensuoh pistons 19 and 20 might be ignited before the bottom side of the piston 19 may reach and pass the lower edge ofthe port 25 to admit such explosive mixture into an adjacent cylinder, but such spark-plug 60, if desired, may be disposed at a point higher in the wall of the compression chamber 14 whereby there can be no ignition of the explosive mixture within the space between the pistons 19 and 20 until it is raised to a point where it may be admitted into the port 25.

A combustible fluid for operating an engine may be admitted to the compression chamber 14 and within the space between the pistons 19 and 20 by means of a hole 61 disposed in the wall of the compression chamber 14, just below the spark-plug 60, into which hole 61 may lead a suitable pipe, not shown, that may conduct such combustible fluid from a convenient source of supply, as may be understood by reference to Fig. 2. lVhen the bottom side of the piston 19 in its upward movement reaches a point where the compressed gases may find access into the port 25 compressed air may not enter the space between the pistons 19 and 20 through the opening 58, to which one end of the cross-pipe 57 is attached, since at such time the upper end of the piston 20 will have passed above such opening 58 to close it, and at such time combustible fluid may gain entrance through the hole 61 into the space between the pistons 19 and 20 whereby such combustible fluid and the compressed air within such space may mix to form an explosive mixture in a manner well known. Obviously such combustible fluid would have to be forced to feed through the hole. 61 by a pressure greater than the maximum pressure of the compressed air within the space between the pistons 19 and 20. Further, it will be seen that when the piston 19 is high enough to admit an explosive mixture into the port 25 then the upper side of the piston 19 will be above the upperedge of the port 25. thus closing the opening at the top of the cylindrical space 17, as shown in Fig. 3, but when, in its downward movement, the piston 19 passes the point where its upper side is lower than the upper edge of the port 25 then the adjacent cylinder may exhaust through the port 25 into the cylindrical space 17 thence upwardly and out of the top thereof.

Referring to Fig. 3 the .water jacket spaces 16 are supplied with an inlet hole 62 and an outlet hole 63, said inlet hole 62 being adapted to connect with a pipe, not shown, leading to a source of cold water while the hole 63 may connect with a suitable drain pipe, not shown.

Fig. 4 more clearly shows, by a cross-sectional view on broken line m-m of Fig. 2, the form of the port 25 which affords a passageway between the cylindrical space 17 and an adjacent cylinder which port 25 may serve both for admitting an explosive mixture into an adjacent cylinder and for an exhaust port for such cylinder through which products of combustion, which have been utilized, may pass in their way to the open air through the top of the cylindrical space 17 Fig. 5, by a view in cross-section on broken line yg ofv Fig. 2, shows more clearly the plan of construction of the opening 58 which opening 58 communicates with an end of the cross-pipe 57.

Thus it is seen that my invention embodies a plan of construction whereby a body of compressed gas or gases adapted to form an explosive mixture may be moved by and within a suitable inclosure, which movement may be such with respect to an adjacent cylinder that devices associated with such cylinder and such inclosure may permit, at proper times, such explosive mixture to find passageway from such inclosure to such cylinder.

In the operation of an engine embodying the form of my invention as hereinbefore described, it is manifest that the downward movements of the pistons 27 and 30 will maintain a compression of air in the pipes 49, 56 and 57 which compressed air at proper times, in response to the action of the motion communicated to the piston rods 18 and 21 by the eccentrics 33 and 34, will be admitted respectively to the space between the pistons 19 and 20 and the pistons 22 and 23 when such air may mix with combustible fluid which is injected through holes 61 to form an explosive mixture whereupon such explosive mixture may thence be admitted through the ports 25 and 26 respectively and thence into thevupper ends of the cylinders 12. and 13 respectively to force their respective pistons 27 and 30 downwardly, in a manner well known, and when either of the pistons arrives at a desired lower point in its respective cylinder, the space above such piston may be exhausted into the open air through its respective port 25 or 26 and the open end of the cylindrical space 17, the opening and closing of such ports 25 and 26 being regulated respectively by the movements of the pistons 19 and 22 in an obvious manner. 7 I

Manifestly any form of device for igniting the explosive mixture may be substituted for the spark-plug 60. i

From the foregoing description it will be seen that my invention may be embodied in an internal-combustion engine having one cylinder only or in an engine having a plurality of cylinders, as may be desired, and various modified forms of the essential parts of my invention may be employed without departing from the spirit of my invention. What I claim is: e a g 1. In an internal combustion engine, the

combination with two cylinders each provided with an inlet port at one of its ends and with inlet and outlet puppet valves at its opposite end, cylindrical air. chambers communicating with said ports, of a piston within each of said air chambers adapted to move a body of air from one part to another thereof, means for connecting said outlet valves with said cylindrical chambers, driving mechanism operatively associated with each of said pistons to cause the latter to move a body of air lengthwise within its cylindrical air chamberto a position that will permit such body of air to enter the adjacent one of said cylinders, and an air-compresse ing piston'associated with each of said cylinders adapted to force air into said adjacent cylindricalair chamber. a l V 2. In an internal combustion engine, the combination with an engine cylinder having a port at one end, of an inlet puppet valve disposedin its other end, an outlet puppetvalvealso disposed in the latter end, a cylindrical chamber disposed adjacent to said engine cylinder to communicate with said port, movable means in said cylindrical chamber adapted to move a confined bodyof air in a lengthwise direction thereof to discharge said air into said port, air conducting means disposed to extend between said outlet puppet-valve and said cylindrical chamber to conduct air from said outlet puppet valve to a point in said cylindrical chamber where it may be confined by, said movable means, and a piston dlsposcdwithin said cylinder and adapted when moved my name this fourth day of. June A. D., 1912.- v i WALTER J. HARKIN,

" WVitnesses y E. H. ALvoRn,

AN A HAsmNs;

Copies of this patent may be obtained forfive cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, 7

' Washington, 1). c." 7 V 

